Re: cutting glass ? and router costs

My brother-in-law's glass business in the Philippines use a CNC mounted Ultrasonic Head, Rated at 1Kw, for custom production of stain glass pieces. If I remember correctly, the tool was only a stainless rod about 1/8" in diameter and used a 220 grit slurry. Cutting Speed was several inches per minute, and the tool was replaced about every 10 minutes. For the high volume stuff they used a smaller Ultrasonic Head mounted on a Drill Press. The Tool was shaped to the shape of the piece being cut. (Exactly like a Cookie Cutter) And parts were stamped out every few seconds. Henry said that he is planning to replace the CNC machine with a Laser unit.

I would think, using the scoring technique as suggested would be difficult in machine control because of the highly irregular surface of the stain glass. However possibly some form of spring loaded tool with a diamound tip could be used. Just a thought.

Thomas Mayfield
Love thy neighbor and borrow his tools.